The recent phenmenon of community colleges in India
June 21st, 2011
Following are excerpts from an article in Indiaeducationdiary.
As per the latest statistics, the community colleges of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) have become a rage in the country. "In just three years, IGNOU has over two lakh students in about 600 community colleges pursuing vocational education, skill development and work integrated learning," announced Vice-Chancellor Prof. V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai,.
… In the early 1990s, the University Grants Commission had sent a committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals to the USA to study the well-established community college system there. Following the recommendations, the Pondicherry Central University had started the first community college in the publicly funded university system. Pondicherry University is now augmenting the community colleges by appointing faculty and creating other facilities.
In Tamil Nadu, state universities like Manonmaniam Sundanar University, Tirunelveli and very recently, all the state universities in Tamil Nadu have decided to start 10 community colleges each. The Tamil Nadu Open University (TNOU) has started Community College programmes at the Certificate and Diploma levels and the state has also a large number of community colleges supported by charity organisations, particularly by the missionary institutions. …
"The Community College System the world over is the most open and flexible pattern of post-secondary education, life-long learning and skill development. It provides a supplementary route to higher education through an appropriate mix of skills and academic knowledge. In the US, according to the latest statistics, 46 percent of the students go to the Universities through the two-year community colleges. Several of these Community Colleges are much bigger than some of the premier universities over there. Open education practices, flexi-time approach, technology-enabled teaching and learning, On-line and distance learning, work-integrated learning, and very recently use of Open Education Resources (OER) are the most salient features of these community colleges," said the VC.
Open University of China (OUC) offers full-time, part-time and spare-time two-year and three-year degree programmes in addition to various modular, certificate and diploma programmes. The two-year degrees (Associate Degrees) are analogous to the community colleges in the US, Canada and Australia, and to the advanced diploma programmes in the UK and European post-secondary education system.
The 2010 Statistical Bulletin of the Open University of China indicates that the Associate Degree, which is in between the Certificate and the Bachelor Degree, is the largest qualification base in China. In 2010, 4,12,400 students from OUC received Associate Degrees in contrast to 6,914 Bachelor Degrees and 38,000 Certificates. More than 50 percent of the students enter into higher learning in the Universities through these two-year degree colleges in China.
Open and Distance Learning (ODL), On-line Learning and Open Educational Resources (OER) constitute major delivery strategies as of today in the Community College System. The two-year Associate Degree Community Colleges have more than 50 percent of their enrollment through Distance Education.
Looking at these global trends in Open University and Distance Education Systems and considering the challenges of the National Skills Mission, chaired by the Prime Minister of India, IGNOU initiated the Community College Movement in the country in 2008, after countrywide consultations and drawing inputs from the National Knowledge Commission and the Planning Commission. In just three years, IGNOU has over two lakh students in about 600 community colleges pursuing vocational education, skill development and work-integrated learning, full-time, part-time and spare-time. …
Entry Filed under: Community Colleges